Zhejiang United Investment (08366) May Not Be Able to Find Books and Records of Chinese Subsidiaries Former executive directors Zhou Ying and Meng Ying have been arrested

Zhejiang United Investment (08366) announced that the Company has not been able to contact the Company's former executive directors Zhou Ying and Meng Ying, and that the Company is currently experiencing difficulties in contacting its PRC subsidiaries and obtaining their latest financial information in terms of preparing financial results. In this regard, the Company has appointed legal counsel to conduct an investigation into the situation of its Chinese subsidiaries, Zhou Ying and Meng Ying in China.

The announcement said that the PRC counsel had reported to the company that its investigation into the situation of the Chinese subsidiaries, Zhou Ying and Meng Ying had been completed and had the following significant findings:

1) The PRC legal counsel has consulted the Gongshu District Bureau of the Hangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau, which indicates that it has opened an investigation into the case of Zhou Ying and Meng Ying suspected of illegally absorbing deposits from the public while operating Zhejiang United SME Holding Group Co., Ltd., a company privately owned by Zhou Ying and Meng Ying, not a subsidiary of the Group. On July 21, 2021, the Public Security Bureau detained Zhou Ying and Meng Ying. On August 26, 2021, Zhou Ying and Meng Ying were formally arrested by the Hangzhou Gongshu District People's Procuratorate. The Public Security Bureau issued a circular on the arrest on 27 August 2021.

2) PRC counsel has visited the registered offices and principal places of business of the PRC subsidiaries (i.e. Zhejiang Zhongchun Culture & Technology Co., Ltd., Zhejiang Fulian Asset Management Co., Ltd., Zhejiang Xinlian Henderson Communication Technology Co., Ltd. and Jianglian Mei'an Culture Media (Zhejiang) Co., Ltd.) and found that the registered offices of the PRC subsidiaries and the relevant premises of the principal places of business have been vacant or occupied by other parties rather than the PRC subsidiaries. PRC counsel has asked the relevant government agencies and has not found that the PRC subsidiary has another registered business address.

3) PRC legal counsel also inquired about the principal correspondent banks of the PRC subsidiary and was informed that the relevant bank account details and status of the PRC subsidiary could only be accessed by its legal representative or its representative. The legal representatives of all PRC affiliates were unable to be contacted during the investigation.

According to the announcement, Zhou Ying and Meng Ying are former executive directors of the Company and have been removed from the Board on 30 September 2021. Ying Zhou is the legal representative and/or member of senior management of a PRC subsidiary. Meng Ying is also a member of the senior management of a subsidiary in the PRC. However, the Company has not received any official documents from the PRC Public Security Authority or any relevant authorities of the PRC government stating that the Company or any of its PRC affiliates were involved in the arrest of Zhou Ying and Meng Ying.

The special event was only initially reported to the Company in late September 2021 by the Company's recently appointed Chinese legal counsel. The Company has also searched on other unofficial company search engines and has not found further information. As at the date of this announcement, the Board is doing its best to follow up on exceptional events. Due to travel restrictions in China due to the coronavirus situation, the Board is consulting Chinese legal counsel on possible follow-up actions and expects to spend more time on follow-up actions.

As the books and records of the PRC subsidiaries may not be found, the Board expects that the above findings will have a certain impact on the development group's business in China; Preparation of the Group's consolidated management accounts for the year ended 30 April 2021; and the Group's annual audit for the year ended 30 April 2021.